FATOU BALDEH was just seven-years-old when she underwent female ­genital mutilation (FGM).

She thought she was at a party. She said the girls formed a line and then, one by one, they entered a room.

"I remember we were told we were going to a party at my uncle's house," she said. "I was blindfolded and some people held my hands and other people held my legs.

"I remember I was screaming for my grandmother and my mother to help me but no-one did.

"I wasn't given any medication before or after - not anaesthetic, nothing."

Ms Baldeh is just one of an ­estimated three million girls who undergo FGM across the world each year.

She now lives in Edinburgh and works for Dignity Alert Research Forum (DARF). She is originally from the Gambia, where the World Health Organisation estimates 78% of girls are cut.

In countries such as Somalia an estimated 98% of girls undergo FGM. Some are cut at birth, others around the age of five. Some adult women are cut too.

Traditionally the practice is carried out as a means to improve a girl's chances of marrying. In some areas it is a rite of passage.

The UN estimates that FGM affects 130 million women in more than 35 different countries, including Indonesia, Somalia and Sudan.

It has been practised for ­thousands of years and takes many forms but traditionally involves the full or partial removal of young girls' genitals.

The practice has been illegal in the UK for almost 30 years but there has not been a single prosecution.

France prosecutes FGM under human rights legislation and conducts physical examinations of all girls under the age of six. The country has secured 100 convictions.

It is now an increasing problem in Scotland.

An investigation by the BBC found that girls were being cut here but that services in Scotland were not joined up and not well prepared to deal with it.

As part of the BBC ­investigation, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were sent to each of the 32 local authorities and 14 health boards.

The majority of the health boards were unable to say how many cases they had encountered.

Less than one-third of the 32 councils have specific local guidelines on FGM - contrary to Scottish Government child protection guidelines published in 2010. New Scottish Government figures show that, between 1997 and 2011, 2403 girls were born in Scotland to a mother from an FGM practising country.

Police Scotland says every daughter born to a mother with FGM should be dealt with as a child protection concern, and yet according to an FOI request to all 32 councils less than ten cases have been referred to social work.

Scottish legislation in 2005 made it illegal to take girls abroad to conduct FGM.

The Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) has created a network of professionals and organisations to work on a more co-ordinated response to FGM.

The SRC supports a number of women with FGM. It is also working with Greater Glasgow Health Board on a "bridging" project to assess the health of all new asylum seekers.

Ms Baldeh says it was only when she started studying in the UK that she learnt about the health implications of FGM. Type three FGM - the most severe type - is often fatal.

She says that when girls died from FGM people were told it was "because of a witch or a wizard".

Ms Baldeh said it was ­celebrated in most areas of the Gambia and that the girls who were not cut were ostracised from the community.

She said: "It's like a wedding here, thinking, 'Oh my daughter will be getting married' how excited you get - it's the same thing. They get equally excited and they get a lot of pressure on women here.

"For women there, it's not just about being proud of it, but it's like a security you depend on men to provide for you.

"For my mother I'm sure she was thinking, 'if my daughter undergoes this it means she can get a good husband who would look after her in the future, who would provide for her' because if you don't have FGM it's like most men don't want to marry you."

The NSPCC set up a national FGM helpline this year, and over the course of the first three months, there were 102 calls relating to girls at risk of FGM.

The NSPCC helpline is: 0800 028 3550, or you can email: fgmhelp@NSPCC.org.uk

l The BBC investigation Cutting Love will air on Sunday at 10.30am on BBC Radio Scotland.